Tag Archives: Longview

Northwest Trek – A Great Debate and a Great Big Rock

20 Aug

We spent quite a bit of time debating what to do next. My nephew wanted to see Olympic National Park, but, while it would have been cool, I felt that it was too far. Instead, I thought we should see Mt. Rainier. We made our points before he got to the crux of the matter. He was afraid that we would look at the mountain; say something about it being a big rock; and drive on down the road. He had reason to worry because we are prone to do that. Patience is not our virtue.

I promised him that we would stop anywhere that he wanted to stop. If he saw a trail that he wanted to walk, then we would walk it. On top of that, we would not complain about it. He was not convinced.

Honestly, I think going to Olympic would have been cool, but we were not set up for it. If I had it to do over, then we would have spent all of our time in Washington. That way we could have done both. Crater Lake was interesting, but we spent a lot of time just to see one thing.

With the debate behind us, we set out for Mt. Rainier. Along the way, we went through several towns where logging was the major industry. I always think it is interesting to drive through towns. As Del Gue says in Jeremiah Johnson, “Here’s where the people is.” I wonder if Jeremiah, Del Gue and Bear Claw ever made it up to Mt. Rainier.

Anyway, we drove the high road to the mountain, and Mt. Rainier is truly an impressive thing to see.DSC00358

However, it is still a big rock, and I do not have much to write about it.

On the way down from the mountain, we stopped by a mountain stream that was interesting. My nephews and I took the trail and crossed a small bridge to the other side. There were a lot of rocks and a little water, but there are probably times when the water is pouring down.IMG_2888

There is a funny story about my youngest nephew losing his footing on the trail, but I will spare him the embarrassment of putting it out here for everyone to read.

After all of this, we stopped in Longmire, Washington for lunch at the National Park Inn. We had thought about eating at the lodge in the middle of the park, but this turned out to be a better decision. Besides, my dad’s favorite show is Longmire, which made this a fitting place to spend some time.

We made our way back to Longview, Washington and more pie at Shari’s. This time, I skipped Marionberry and went with Pecan. It tastes more like home.

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Northwest Trek – These Are The Times That Try Men’s Souls

17 Aug

We spent an uncertain night in Redmond, Oregon because we did not know which way to progress. Do we go northeast toward Idaho? Do we go north before deciding our next direction? This uncertainty is strange for us because we usually have a plan of roads to take and sights to see. However, we were not familiar with the territory. Finally, we decided to drive north towards The Dalles and turn eastward through the Columbia River Gorge. We had been told that this was something that had to be seen.

Through the years, we have driven through some desolate regions. There are parts of Montana and North Dakota where you will not pass another car for a while. However, we all agreed that nothing was as desolate as the road we took. The road was empty. The land was rough. I was driving and began to worry about the fact that we did not fill up with fuel before hitting the trail.

At one point, we pulled over to take a “break” and saw this guy riding along in the middle of nowhere.DSC00331

This brings me to a couple of other points about the trip. First, there are tons of cyclists in the northwest. They were on every road. Sometimes, they rode alone. Sometimes, they rode in pairs. Other times, they rode in groups with all of them wearing the same jerseys. I assume they were cycling clubs.

Second, the guy on the bike never acknowledged our existence. He rode by slowly as we stood along the side of the road. In these parts, we would have waved or nodded our heads. In some parts of the country, a cyclist may have yelled at us for being in the way. That did not happen on the side of a desolate road, and it did not happen on any other part of the trip. The people of the northwest were nice enough, but it was like they did not care if we were around. There was no reaction.

That could be that they are more mellow than the rest of the country. It could be that the zombie apocalypse has started in the northwest, and no one has realized it. Whatever the reason, most of the people we ran into seemed to be floating through the day. Heck, they did not even ask us where we were from. Usually, our southern accents elicit that question but not this time.

Anyway, we made it to the edge of the Gorge and filled up with gasoline. For those who do not know, Oregon has a law that says you cannot pump your own gas. They have attendants that do it for you. Of course, you have to get out of the car to insert the credit card and clean the windows.

We drove through the Columbia River Gorge on the scenic side and were disappointed. It simply was not as scenic as people made out. If someone thinks this is the most beautiful place they have been, then they have not been many places. It is not a terrible place, but there are better drives throughout the nation.IMG_2528

On top of that, we ended up eating at Burger King. We expected little towns with cool local eateries. There were little towns but not many choices in dining. However, Burger King provided the opportunity to break out the map and find our destination. It turned out to be Longview, Washington, a place that set us up for the next day.

We made it to Longview in time to do a couple of things. One was to find a place to fix my nephew’s GoPro camera. The other was to find something to eat. It took a couple of stops for the camera, and my nephew ended up fixing it with glue and rope. While he was looking for that, we were on our phones looking for restaurants.

My nephew and I found a steakhouse a few blocks away. There were some other places, but the pickings were slim. My brother said that he found something great – a smokehouse with brisket, barbecue and all sorts of stuff. We could not find it on our phones, but he was determined that we were going there. It turned out that he was looking for restaurants in Longview, Texas.

We had dinner at Applebee’s. It was not as good as our local Applebee’s because this one has my picture on the wall.

On the way back to the hotel, we ran into Shari’s, the place with the pie. We had to top off a long day with something good. For me, that was another piece of Marionberry Pie. It was a wasted day. We did not see anything. We did not have a decent meal. However, we got some pie.

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